Button-stapling machine



(NO 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. O ELY.

BUTTON STAPLING MACHINE.

. Patented May 17, 1887 n4 wnzns FhuwLithognpbor. Waih ngion. a Q

(No Model. 2 Sheets-Sheet :2. E. O. ELY.

BUTTON STAPLING MACHINE. No. 363,054

Patented May 17, 1887.

K Pains. Phnlo-L'rthognpha r. Washinginln n. c.

l, f d d d WM%ZZL 62 65 PATENT BUTTON-STAPLING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 363,054, dated May 17, 1887.

Application filed July 14, 1886. Serial No. 207,997. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD O. ELY, of Bos" ton, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Supplying But-tons with Staples, of which the following description, in connection wlth the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. Many kinds of button-setting machines now n common use are provided with buttons having eyes, through which two-pronged staples are passed. In some instances the buttons fol low in the raceway, while the staples hang free, and in other instances the staples follow in a raceway, while the buttons hang free; but so far as known to me the buttons have been supplled with or threaded with staples by hand.

This invention has for its object to construct an organized machine for automatically passlng a staple through the eye of a button preparatory to the passage of the combined button and staple into a guide tube or chute and then into a detachable tube, the combined button and staple being thereafter taken from the said detachable tube to be attached to a boot, shoe, or other article.

In accordance with this invention two hoppers are provided, from which lead suitable raceways, one of the said hoppers containing staples while the other hopper contains buttons, suitable means being provided for causing the said staples and the said buttons to separately follow along their respective raceways into a guidetube located at the termination of the said raceway, upon which the staples slide the said guide-tube receiving the said staples, One at a time, as they are dropped from the terminus of the staple-raceway, and a suitable stop or holder being provided for checking the downward movement of the staples within the guide-tube, means being provided for actuating the said stop or holder at determinate intervals.

One side of the guide tube, below the stop or holder for checking the downward movement of the staple, is cut away or recessed to receive the eye of the endmost button in the button-raceway, so that as the lowermost staple is released one of its legs in falling passes through the eye of the button, then entering the side of the guide-tube, and hence lying in its path of movement.

The face of the guide-tube is slotted its entire length, and,'as shown, is bent outward or inclined at its end, so that a staple with its legs pointing downward may pass freely therein,- the eye of the button to which the staple is connected following in the slot in the said guide-tube. For a short distance along the under side of the inclined portion of the guidet-ube the metal is cut away, so that when a staple not connected to a button arrives at such point the staple may fall out. At the same time the staples connected loosely to the buttons swing out of the guide-tube and assume a vertical position; but in the further downward progress of the button the staple meets a projection, which reverses the position of the staple, the latter entering a continuation of the guidetube crown foremost, the combined button and staple passing from thesaid guide-tube into suitable detachable tubes,

which hold the said buttons and staples to be transferred to a button-settiug machine; but

I desire it to be understood that the staples connected to buttons might be fed directly into a button-setting machine without reversing the staples, as described.

Figure 1 shows in top View a machine einbodying this invention for supplying buttons with staples, the lids of the hoppers and a portion of the frame being removed, Fig. 2, a side elevation of Fig.1; Figs. 3 and 4, sectional details of the button-raceway, taken, respectively,on thedottedlines m m, yy, Fig.2; Fig. 5,

a front elevation of a portion of the machine,

showing the auxiliarystaple chute ortube and a portion of the staple and button raeeways and the devices for causing one leg of the staple to pass through the eye of the button; Fig. 6, a right-hand side view of Fig. 5; Fig. 7, a vertical section of Fig. 5, taken on the dottedline 00 m; Fig. 8, a vertical section of Fig. 5, taken on the dotted line x x Fig. 9, a rear side View of the vertically-moving block and its finger for releasing the retaining device for the staple, that the latter may descend and pass through the eye of a button 5 Fig. 10, a detail to be referred to.

The bed-plate A and framework A mounted thereon are of any suitable construction, a suitable stan'dardor frame, A, being secured to the frame-work,in which the shafts afa have their bearings. A plate, a is secured to the top of the standard or frame A to the underside of which are attached two frusto-coniealshaped hoppers, B B, one of which, as B,con-

tains staples, while the other, as B, contains buttons, said hoppers lying side by side and having openings at their smaller ends to receive suitable inclined raceways b b, of such shape in cross-section as to permit the staples and buttons, respectively, to follow therein, the said staples and buttons being picked up by a suitable picking-up mechanism and thrown so as to lodge upon the upper ends of the said raceways.

The picking-up mechanism herein shown consists of a disk, b attached to the end of each shaft a a, turningwithin the rear or enlarged ends of the hoppers B B, said disks having upon their faces suitable tapering curved blades, b, which, as the disks are rotated by the shafts, pick up a quantity of staples or buttons from the lower portion of the hopper and throw the same off. The buttons picked up by the blades are made to drop upon usual aprons, b and some of them lodge with their eyes in the groove of the raceway b, the staples so picked falling, some of them, astride the raceway b, made as a ridge or saddle. The raceway b, upon which the staples travel, extends, as herein shown, in a curved line forward, it also being inclined toward the front of the machine. The end of the said raceway b is entered between the walls of a guide-block, c, which serves to guide the stapics, the said guide-block a being secured to the tops of the standard or frame 0. v

A guide-tube, c, of sufficient dimension to receive the staples one above the other,eoope'rates with the guide-block 0, (see Fig. 7,) the said guide-tube entering a suitable groove in the face or standard (l of the frame, the face of the said staple-chute being slotted to receive the eyes of the buttons, a suitable stop or holder, 0, (shown as a spring,) being located at the rear side of the said guide-tube c to check the downward course of the staples, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7. v I V A slotted block, (I, fitted into a dovetailed groove in the face of the standard or frame 0, parallel with the guide-tube, is moved vertically by a wrist-pin, 01, carried by 'a disk, at, secured to. a, shaft, (1 said disk d turning in'a recess in the standard or frame C,while the wrist-pin d enters a groove, 11*, in a block, d (see Figs. 8 and 9,) secured to the rear sideof the slide-block d, said slide-block being cut away vertically at its rear si'deto reeeive'a bar, d, pivoted at its lower end to the said slidebloek dby a pin,d, said bar being also grooved transversely to give sufiicient space for the block (i v The free or upper end of the bar Z,normally acted upon by a spring, d, has a finger, d the point of which as the slide-block cl is lifted is thrown outward or. to the left, as in dotted lines, Fig. 7, to pass above the level of the crown of the staple resting upon the step or holder 0 and thereafter the finger d is permitted to move to the right far enough to engage the crown of the staple held by the stop 0, and as the block d is made to descend,the said finger,acting upon the crown,causes the staple to be passed below the said stop or holder, the latter yielding for such purpose,

but immediately resuming its normal position to check the next staple above it.

The bar at derives its outward movement by providing the wrist-pin d, which reciprocates the said slide-bar, with a beveled portion, 2, which bears against the stud d",fixed to the rear side of 'the said bar d and projecting through the block (P, the beveled portion of the wrist-pin as it travels in its circular path acting intermittingly against the stud d",causing the pivoted bar (1 to rock.

The bottom of the raceway bis grooved for a portion of its length to receive the eyes of the buttons;but on nearing the end the said raceway is eut away or slotted upon one side, (see Fig. 4,) so that the eyes of the buttons may be turned from their vertical position to ya right angle, and in this position the eye of the but ton enters a notch or recess, 3, cut in or across one side of the guide-tube c a little below the strip or holder 0', the head of the button at such time being under the control of a yielding retaining device consisting of a recessed block, 4, supported upon a yielding arm, secured to the standard or frame 0 by screws 5 5.

\Vith the button in the position shown in Fig. 5--viz., with the eye thereof entering the guide-tube-the said eye will receive one leg of the staple as the latter is pushed or moved past the stop '0 by the finger d carried by the slide-block d. Two springs, 6 7, secured to the slide'bloek d, are arranged to bear upon a button next to the endmost button in the raceway as the slide-block is moved downward, to thus force the endmost button from the yielding retaining device 4 5, and as the said but ton is forced therefrom the cooperation of the slightly-inclined outer side of the block 4 and the inclined cutaway portion 9 of the guidetube causes the button then held by the staple to turn partially over, so that the staple may follow down the said guide-tube and the eye of the button follow in the slot in the face thereof.

An irregular notched wheel or mutilated gear, e, is fixed to the shaft d, and two stiff flat springs, 12 13, secured, respectively, to the raceways b b, are arranged to bear upon the periphery of said notched wheel, to thus serve asan agitator for the raceways, and to better enable the staples and buttons to follow along the same freely. Below its upper end the metal at the lower side of the guide-tube is cut away, as shown in Fig. 7, to permit the free discharge of any staples which are not IIO connected to buttons, and as the staples which are connected to buttons pass the said open space they swing out and hang freely, assum- 1ng a vertical position; but as they reach the end of such cut-away portion the staple strikes the cross pin or bar 16, and its position is thereby reversed as it enters the guide-tube again.

'Io load up a tube for a button-setting machine-such, for instance, as represented in United States Patent No. 328,365-the said tube, as T, (see Figs. 1 and 2,) may be attached by any suitable means to the end of the guidetube, in order that the staples with connected buttonsinay be fed directly into the said tubes. In this instance I have shown the shafts d as rotated by a crank, e,- and a pulley, f, is fixed to said shaft, about which passes two belts, f f", they passing about two pulleys. f f", mounted, respectively, upon the shafts a a, and employ ed to rotate the picking-up mechanism within the hoppers; but it. is obvious that any other suitable means may be employed for rotating the shafts. It is also obvious that any other suitable means may be employed to check the downward progress of the staples than that herein described.

I claim- 1. In a machine for supplying buttons with staples, two hoppers and raeeways leading therefrom combined with a guide-tube located at the termination of the said raceways, said guide-tube having a staplereceiving passage and a separate slot for the shanks of the buttons, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for supplying buttons with staples, two hoppers and raceways leading therefrom combined with a vertical stationary guide-tube located at the termination of the said raceways, said guide-tube having a staple-receiving passage and a slot for the eye of a button and being notched or cut away at one side to permit the eye of the button to enier it at a point below the delivery end of the staple-raceway, to thereby receive one leg of the staple when it falls, substantially as described.

3. In a machine for supplying buttons with staples, two hoppers and racewa-ys leading therefrom, and a slotted guide-tube, as described, located at the termination of the raceways, combined with a stop or holder to temporarily check the forward progress of the staples, and with means, substantially as described, to actuate the said stop or holder to release the staple, substantially as described.

4. In a machine for supplying buttons with staples, the hoppers and raeeways leading therefrom, and guide-tube located at the termination of the said raceways to receive the combined staple and button, said guide-tube having a hole or opening upon its under side to reverse the position of the staple, substan tially as described.

5. In a machine for supplying buttons with staples, the hoppers and raceways leading therefrom, and guide tube located at the termination of the said raceways, the said guidetube having a staplereeeiving passage and a slot for the eye of the button and being notched or cut away at one side to permit the button to enter the guide-tube, combined with a re taining device to retain the eudmost button with its eye entering the notch cut in the side of the tube in position to receivea staple, and means for forcing the neXt button forward, thereby releasing the retaining device and discharging the button retained by it, sub stantially as described.

6. In a machine for supplying buttons with staples, a raceway to receive the staples, combined with a guide-tube having a staple-1e ceiving passage and located at the termination of the said staple-raceway, said guide-tube being notched or cut away at .one side to receive or permit the eye of the button to enter the staple-receiving passage sufficiently to lie in the downward path of the staple, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presenee of two subscribing witnesses.

EDIVARD O. ELY.

\Vitnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, G. M. Conn. 

